A man who suffered mental delusions while watching X Factor that triggered him to decapitate his wife's head has been sectioned indefinitely. The beheading happened at a house in St Neots, Cambridgeshire last year, with the man believing dancers of the said show were puppets that will cause him "eternal damnation".
Timothy Allen, 40 years old, took his wife's life, Samatha Ho, 39 years old, through beheading her at their home last August, the Guardian reported. His wife's decapitated head and body were found separately. Postmortem test results showed her cause of death was due to multiple cuts on her neck.
The couple, who met each other in 1995 at a university, was watching television at their home in August 29 when Allen had a paranoid delusion and tried to commit suicide, Southwark Crown Court said. The show they were watching at that time was the X Factor show, that triggered him to kill his wife, according to Peterborough Telegraph. Allen attempted to slash his throat, however, he then turned his knives to his wife and their pet dog, Cherry.
He told the investigators that while watching the said show, he saw the dancers "as puppets being controlled by a puppet master". He believed the puppets were going to "cause him eternal damnation" that is why he tried to kill himself, and eventually murdered his wife and their pet. Mrs. Ho had already called 999 to report her husband's attempted suicide. Authorities arrived at the scene and found Allen "in the process, having killed Samantha, of killing their dog".
According to Mirror, Allen denied murder, and prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility in February. His medical records shows he suffers paranoid schizophrenia over his motorbike accident in 2004.
Justice McGowan sentenced him to be detained according to section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, and ordered a restriction under section 41 of the same Act. This means Allen will not be released from mental hospital "until the secretary of state deems him not to be a risk."
Samantha Ho, who was a bioscientist, was a well-loved, well respected, kind-hearted young lady, according to her family. Punam Malhan, senior district crown prosecutor for CPS East of England, said the prosecution considered the medical reports "very carefully" before deciding to accept Allen's plea.
